Events

Name: USDA Annual Consultation and Listening Session on Tribal Barriers: Education and Research
Start: 2024-04-22T13:00:00-05:00
End: 2024-04-22T16:30:00-05:00
Location: Virtual Event

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USDA Annual Consultation and Listening Session on Tribal Barriers: Education and Research

April 22 @ 1:00 pm - 4:30 pm CDT

WASHINGTON, April 15, 2024 – The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) announces the Annual Consultation and Listening Session on Tribal Barriers: Annual Progress Report and Feedback for Next Steps, to be held April 22-26, 2024. These meetings with Tribal Nation officials will highlight historic Biden-Harris Administration investments made in response to Tribal Nation requests and discuss more ways to improve USDA service to Indian Country.

“In just three years, USDA has fundamentally changed the way we do business with Indian Country,” said Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack. “We have more partnerships between Tribes and National Forests, more marketing support for Native producers, and we are including more Native foods in our nutrition assistance programs. These are just a sampling of the many ways that we are reshaping our programs to include Tribal and Indigenous perspectives, remove barriers, and encourage Tribal self-determination.”

Consultations are formal, Nation-to-Nation meetings between USDA (representing the federal government) and officials from among the 574 federally recognized Tribal Nations. There are many agricultural producers in Indian Country, and USDA plays a significant role in upholding Tribal treaty rights and the Nation-to-Nation trust relationship. USDA agencies and offices host consultations throughout the year to hear from Tribal Nations about how USDA policies and programs can better support Indian Country.

The April consultations will focus on key priority areas for the Biden-Harris Administration. Senior USDA consulting officials from each agency will listen to concerns from official representatives from among the 574 federally recognized Tribal Nations. Before each consultation, Tribal organizations will facilitate caucuses to support Tribal leaders in discussing these issues. After the formal consultation with elected Tribal leaders concludes, there will be an informal listening session that is open to all Indian Country attendees.

Details: These consultations build on those which occurred in 2021, 2022, and 2023. Over three years of consultations, we have had some important, and at times difficult, conversations about barriers to services at USDA and ways we can improve the experience for Indian Country. We have made tremendous progress in many areas identified in these consultations, as we announced at the 2023 Tribal Nations Summit. We are proud of this progress, but there is still work to do. For the 2024 consultations and listening sessions, we will ask for your input on some critical issues that remain difficult to address. Our framing papers will outline key topics where we are seeking Tribal input, in addition to other concerns which leaders wish to bring to our attention.

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